Californians Called On To Foster Connections For The Thousands In Stateâs Foster Care System

Over 68,000 Californian children are in foster care because their own families
are in crisis and unable to provide for their essential wellbeing.

Like all young people, youth in foster care deserve
and benefit from enduring, positive relationships with caring adults. Now is the time to get involved.

This May, National Foster Care Month will serve as the platform for connecting
more of these vulnerable children with concerned, nurturing adults. Join
California’s leading child welfare agencies, private foster family agencies,
advocates, experts and thousands of foster and adoptive parents as they come
together to address the needs of our communities’ young people in foster care.

Their message is simple: No matter how much time you have
to give, youth in foster care are OUR CHILDREN and we must provide for them.
About half of all foster children are aged 0-5. Aspiranet Adoption and Foster
Family Agency was recently awarded a specialized grant through First 5 San
Bernardino to find qualified homes to care this special group of children and
to allow them to remain with their siblings when placed in foster homes.

Many of these formerly abused or neglected children and
teens will either be safely reunited with their parents, be cared for by
relatives, or be adopted by loving families. But others are less fortunate.
Every year, more than 4,000 older youth “age out” of foster care and are left
alone to face life’s challenges. No matter their age, all young people in
foster care need a meaningful connection to a caring adult who becomes a
supportive and lasting presence in their lives – a lifelong connection.

Research shows that foster care alumni are far more likely
than their peers in the general population to endure homelessness, poverty,
compromised health, unemployment, incarceration and other adversities after
they leave the foster care system.Aspiranet
Adoption and Foster Family Agency will begin on July 1, 2009 partnering with
San Bernardino County in a program designed to provide life skills, continued education,
health care, housing, employment assistance and mentoring to youth (18-24 years
old) aging out of the system through their THP-Plus program.

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